Masthead: The masthead is separated into two. The first half has the letters, “RS”, an abbreviation of their magazine name, Rolling Stone and the second half is the issue number. They are all in a serif font following the house style of their magazine. The colours also follow their house style with red and black and a white background. The black colour itself gives a dark and scary connotation, but the contrast of white and black gives a formal impression as well. The red colour gives a connotation of power and strength, and the contrast between the white colour makes it look like hell and heaven, which shows good and evil. All of this shows how the masthead gives an impression of battle and enemies. This will attract more men than women, and because of its formality, it will attract a range of people of B to C2 in the demographic model. There are 2 issue numbers because this is a special edition of Hip-Hop. The fact that they have two issue numbers, makes it look like there is much more information that usual, and making people want to buy it more. There is hardly any space between the two issue numbers, with a small slash between them. This makes the issue number look even bigger, making it look like a much bigger number, so it attracts more people. They have kept the font and size the same to give a relation with the two halves of the masthead. But they have used different colours to give it a contrast, and so people will easily notice each difference
There are no skylines above it, making it look neat and clean. 
Main Image: There are four main images, all a front cover of the magazine. They all have the same text, and are all relates to Hip-Hop, as it says. They are all covering the masthead with their head or a crown. Three of them are in red, but one in gold, making it stand out from the group, because it isn’t following the house style of the magazine. It could relate to the colour of the crown he is wearing, and the chain he is wearing. This all gives an impression that he is the king of Hip-Hop. This connotes power and fame. Even his lips look gold, relating to the whole impression the cover is giving. Their mode of address is all facing the audience, but all of them look serious, powerful, and scary. It is all in a close up shot to make them look more powerful. The top left image is facing upwards, but looking towards the audience. This shows how he is looking downwards to us, showing how he stand above us and how powerful he is. He looks very proud. You can only see half of his face, because the rest is covered in a shadow. This shows how he may have a dark side in him, relating to fear. He is wearing a jacket, looking very casual, which relates to Blumler Katz’s theory of identifying with the audience, because it shows how anyone can be as powerful as him, even without fortune. The background colour and his clothes are both in black, giving a dark image.The white text and the black colour gives a contrast between them, and making each stand out. The top right image all relates to gold, fame and fortune. The masthead, the crown, the chain all are in gold, and as I said earlier, even parts of his face look gold because of the lighting. All of this shows how he reminds us of how he’s the king of Hip-Hop, and no one can dare reach him. The red background relates to the house style of the magazine, and also gives a connotation of danger. This is his background, so it is as if danger is behind him, and nothing comes in front of him. This again shows how powerful he is. The bottom left picture is a black and white photo. He is wearing a white cloth around his head, tied in a knot, making him look as if he were about to fight in any minute. He is also wearing a chain, but because it is a black and white photo, with the same colour background as his skin, it doesn’t stand out very much, like the other magazines. This shows how he became famous from the dark, and he gradually became famous, even without much money. He isn’t wearing a shirt, which gives a slightly provocative impression, which may attract women as well. The last picture is of Jay-Z, a black man wearing black leather suits. Except the masthead, everything is in black and white, although it isn’t a black and white photo. This shows how he may be giving a message out to the readers about racism. All three images give a dark impression. Three of them are black, wearing chains, and one of them is white, wearing nothing but a jacket. This may again, be a message against racism.
Subtitle: There is again, the slogan, “All the news that fits”, with the text “News that fits” all in capital letters. This looks as if they deliberately made it in capital letters to make it fit the space in the page. This then will relate to how this quotation is literally fitting in the small space. The larger letters also will attract more people. It is all in a serif font, relating to the house style of the magazine. The colours are also in red white and black relating once again, to the house style. It contains words that will attract audience, such as “Best”, “Greatest” etc. It looks formal, so it will attract adults rather than teenagers.
Layout: The page is divided into three columns and one of them is filled with the contents. The rest are with images. This helps make the page look neat and tidy. Their slogan is on the top left, which is the point where most people look at first, so it will catch the eye. The date and their magazine name are written once more on the bottom of the page, so people can look at it after looking at the contents. It is also there to remind people that it’s their magazine, just in case anyone forgets.
Website Details and Competitions: The page doesn’t contain any website details, which shows how confident they are in how people will definitely buy their magazine. It also shows how no one can be better than them, so people will want to buy them even more.
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